Apparatus for serving a strand on a travelling core



Sept. 24, 19 D. L. WILLIAMS APPARATUS FOR SERVING A STRAND ON ATRAVELLING CORE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 12, 1954 h avill 1.

a J u Sept. 24, 1957 D. L. WILLIAMS APPARATUS FOR SERVING A STRAND ONA'TRAVELLING CORE Filed May 12, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR:

9.54 A. Mz/A/ws.

BY W, ZMM I ATTORN EYS.

United St w Pat n APPARATUS FOR SERVING A STRAND ON A TRAVELLING COREDean L. Williams, Rome, N. Y., assignor to Rome Cable This inventionrelates to apparatus for serving a strand onto and around a travellingcore. The word strand is used broadly and includes tapes, yarn, threadand the like, of paper, glass fiber, cotton or other covering orinsulating material. The word core is used broadly and includes thread,yarn, cord, rope including metal rope, wire, cable and the like.

The invention is described herein in connection with winding a coveringof insulating tape around a travelling wire or cable. Devices for thispurpose customarily have comprised a unitary hollow shaft havingdisposed concentrically lElIOLlIld its front end a flyer, which isessentially a cup-like member opening forwardly and carrying one or morestrand :guide pins. The core to be covered is pulled through the hollowshaft as the flyer is rotated at high speed. The strand is supplied in apackage called a cop which is furnished wound on a tube usually made ofcardboard. The tube with the cop wound thereon is placed on a sleevewhich is rotatable on the hollow shaft within said cup-lilce member orflyer. As the flyer. rotates the strand is unwound from the cop andguided first outwardly to the periphery of the flyer and then inwardlyto and around the core. The speed of winding of the strand relative tothe axial speed of travel of the core determines whether the core is lapwound, butt wound or space wound. The sleeve is mounted so that it canrotate with respect to the hollow shaft and said cup-like member as thestrand is unwound from the cop, and the rotation of the sleeve isretarded by brake means to cause the strand to be Wound on the coreunder slight tension.

It is desirable to run a flyer as fast as possible consistent with ahigh quality product,.which is one comprising a strand served evenlyaround a core, under uniform tension. Flyers heretofore available aredeficient in many respects. When used at high speed they are subject tovibration and erratic action of the brake means, which alfects therotation of thecop. These defects in turn cause breakage of the strandand skips in the core covering.

The brake means of the prior art could not be adjusted without stoppingthe whole serving apparatus including means for advancing the wire orcable.

The sleeve on which the cop carrying tube is mounted must be rotatablewith respect to the hollow shaft and surrounding cup-like flyer but thetubular members on which the standard packages or cops of servingmaterial are supplied are of small diameter, ordinarily having an insidediameter of 1% or 2% and there is not room between the hollow shaft andthe sleeve for even the smallest prelubrieated and sealed ball bearingassemblies which are commercially available, comprising inner and outerraces separated by ball bearings. fore been customary to rotatablysupport the sleeve within this space using cone type ball bearings. Ithas been believed that this arrangement was necessary although it hasbeen recognized thatit has several disadvantages which have caused suchbearing means to become obsolete for It has hereto- 7 Patented Sept. 24,7

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'2 most applications. In prior art devices of t his kind it has beendifficult to seal in lubricant and keep dirt out. It has also beendiflicult to reduce the radial play of the sleeve to a negligible amountFurthermore use of the cone and ball arrangement entails having portionsof the surfaces of said hollow shaft and of said sleeve especiallyhardened to serve as bearing surtaces, in order to avoid undue wear.This involves special custom work which which is very expensive comparedto the cost of the sealed ball bearing assemblies which are commerciallyavailable. These are relatively inexpensive since they are manufacturedin large volume.

Furthermore, in apparatus now used for serving a strand around and ontoa wire or cable core the cops are held on the rotating sleeve byfriction, between the tube on which the cop is wound, and the sleeve,and the fric tional grip is not adjustable. This requires very greataccuracy in manufacturing the tubular members, the tolerance permittedbeing only on the order of .005 of an inch. This requirement renders thecost of the tubular members very high.

It is an object of the invention to provide serving apparatus which hasa minimum of loose parts and is characterized by absence of vibration.

Another object of the invention is to provide serving apparatus in whicha sleeve adapted to receive cops of serving material wound on tubes ofstandard diameter may be supported for rotation on prelubricated sealedball bearing assembly units of a size now commercially available, anddisposed in such a way flrat the cop mounting sleeve is substantiallyfree of radial or axial play, thus eliminating one of the principalcauses 'of vibration in prior art devices.

Another object of the invention is to provide serving apparatus withbrake means which is simple in action and which can be adjusted whilethe flyer is in motion.

Another object of this invention is to provide the copmounting sleevewith means for varying its diameter thus providing dependable frictionalengagement between the sleeve and tubular members on which the cop iswound while permitting substantial tolerance in the diameter of saidtubes.

Other objects of the invention will be in part obvious or in partpointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements, arrangements of parts, and in the severalsteps and relation and order of each of said steps to one or more of theothers thereof, all as will be pointed out in the following description,and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in thefollowing claims.

The invention will best be understood if the following description isread in connection with the drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section of an embodiment of theinvention;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the apparatus shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 33 of Figure l; and

Figure 4 is a fragmental sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure3.

Prior art apparatus for applying a strand to a travelling core hasusually consisted of a long unitary hollow shaft mounted in 'two pillowblocks, or a similar bearing arrangement, and the entire shaft has beenrotated. In contrast theimproved apparatus disclosed herein comprises atwo-part hollow shaft, the first or rear part 10 being stationary andsupported from its rear end, and the second or front part'22 beingintegral, or otherwise combined, with a flyer 20 and rotatable with theflyer, and

the combined shaft 22 and flyer 20 being supported from the rear end androtated by driving means rotatable around said rear shaft 10.

The driving means shown is the sleeve 14 mounted for rotation aroundsaid stationary shaft member 10, on ball bearing assembly units 12,which are preferably of the prelubricated sealed type which are nowcommercially available. Sleeve 14 has adjacent its rear end a drivepulley 16, adapted to be driven by a V-belt drive, and having adjacentits front end the circular mounting flange 18 which is provided with anumber of holes [1, spaced at equal intervals and extending through theflange axially of shaft member 10.

Positioned in front of stationary hollow shaft and aligned with it isthe hollow shaft 22. Shaft 22 is interconnected with the flyer 20, whichis cup-shaped and has a front portion 20a and a rear portion 200 of lessdiameter than the front portion, interconnected by a radially extendingportion 20b, by the circular radial web 21 extending between the rearend of shaft 22 and the rear portion 20c of the flyer. The rear portion200 of the flyer comprises a rearwardly extending circular flange 25which abuts against the circular mounting flange 18 of drive member 14and has the internally threaded bores b in its rear end face to receivescrews b inserted through the holes h in said mounting flange 18 tointerconnect flanges 18 and 25 for supporting the combination of shaft22 and flyer 20 and to rotate them when drive member 14 is rotated.

Surrounding front shaft 22, between it and the portion 20a of flyer 20,is the cop mounting sleeve 26. It will be noted that sleeve 26 is spacedradially from shaft 22, and that it is supported adjacent its rear endon ball bearing assemblies 28, which are preferably of the prelubricatedand sealed unit type now commercially available, positioned between therear end of said shaft 22 and the surrounding rear portion 200 of flyer20, which is of less diameter than its forward portion 20a.

The cop receiving portion of said sleeve 26 extends from its front endto the shoulder 30. The diameter of this portion of sleeve 26 issubstantially the same as the inside diameter of tubes 32 on which thecops of tape are wound and which, as stated above, are at the presenttime furnished in sizes of 1%" and 2 /8" inside diameter. As shown inFigure 1 this front portion of sleeve 26 is reduced in diameter to theshoulder 34 and filling the space thus provided around sleeve 26 are therings 36, 38, 39 and 40, axially movable on said shaft. Rings 38 and 40respectively are expansion rings which may be of known kind and arecharacterized in that, as they are compressed axially they expandradially and are thus able to provide a friction grip for cop carryingtubular members 32 which would otherwise fit loosely around said sleeve26.

Extending into sleeve 26 from its front end is a bore 41 in which anAllen cap screw 42 is insertable through a bore 43 in the radiallyextending flange portion 44a of the cop locking sleeve 44 which extendsfrom the front into the space between shaft member 22 and sleeve 26, andis keyed to sleeve 26 by key 45 for rotation therewith around shaft 22.It will be seen that by tightening the screw 42 the flange 44a of saidcop locking sleeve 44 is caused to exert pressure acting axially on saidrings 36, 38, 39 and 40, thus causing the said expansion rings 38 and 40to expand radially. Upon loosening screw 42 the pressure acting axiallyon said rings is relieved and the radial expansion of rings 38 and 40 iscorrespondingly decreased. This means of adjusting the effectivediameter of sleeve 26 is of considerable practical importance because itgreatly increases the diameter tolerance permitted in the manufacture ofthe tubes 32, on which cops of strand material are wound, thusmaterially decreasing the cost of such tubes. 5 7

The rear portion of sleeve 26, to the rear of shoulder and radial flange48, comprises portions of different diameter. The resulting steppedformation provides a shoulder s in abutting relation to the front offront bearing assembly 28 and a shoulder s in abutting relation to thefront of rear bearing assembly 28.

The portion 20a of the flyer comprises stepped portions of differentdiameter providing a shoulder s in abutting relation to the rear offront bearing assembly 28, a shoulder s in abutting relation to thefront of rear bearing assembly 28, and a shoulder s in abutting relationto the rear of rear bearing assembly 28. In addition the rear bearing 28is held from moving rearwardly on shaft 22 by the nut 27 screwed aroundits rear extremity and spaced from the bearing by the washer 29.

The annular space available between the rear ends of flyer portion 200and the rear portion of sleeve 26 is much greater than the space betweenshaft 22 and the forward portion of sleeve 26, which receives the tubes32 on which the cops are wound, and the diameter of which is limited bythe size of the diameter of tubes now commercially available. As aresult ball bearing assemblies of the sealed self lubricated type whichare mass produced and commercially available may be employed thusovercoming one of the deficiencies of prior art apparatus of the kinddescribed. Furthermore the stepped opposing surfaces of the flyer andsleeve provide shoulders which prevent relative movement between thebearings 28 and said flyer and sleeve 26, and since the flyer and sleeve26 are interconnected or integral this structure also serves to preventvibratory movement of sleeve 26 axially of shaft 22.

Similarly shaft 10 is stepped to provide a shoulder s abutting the rearface of front bearing assembly 12 and the shoulder s abutting againstthe rear face of the rear bearing 12, and driving member 14 is steppedthereby providing a shoulder s abutting the rear face of front bearingassembly 12 and the shoulder s abutting the front face of rear bearingassembly 12. In addition, front bearing assembly 12 is held againstmovement forwardly on shaft 10 by the nut screwed around the forward endof shaft 10 and the washer 91 interposed between said nut and said frontbearing 12.

Projecting radially from sleeve 26 to the rear of said shoulder 30 is acircular flange 48 and demountably mounted on said flange as by screws49 is a disk 50 which may for example be made of any suitable material,such for example as metal or plastic, against which bear the frictionpads 52, which may for example beof cork, and are contained withincup-shaped holders 54 mounted on spring steel arms 56 which arerespectively supported on spacing members 58 projecting forwardly fromthe radially extending portion 20b of flyer 20. The said supportingspring steel members 56 have the extensions 57 extending below thefriction pads 52 into abutting relation with the inner ends of controlrods 60 respectively, which are disposed in parallel relation to shafts10 and 22 and are movable axially of said shafts to increase or decreasethe pressure with which said friction pads 52 contact the said frictiondisk 50 by moving the free ends of said spring extensions 57 of saidspring arms 56 toward or away from said friction disk.

Movement of said control rods 60 toward or away from said spring members57 is controlled by rotation of the knurled annular ring 62 the innersurface of which is threadedly engaged with the annular adjusting screw64 which extends around stationary shaft 10 and supports bearingassembly 66. Adjusting screw 64 moves axially on stationary shaft 10,and is prevented from turning by key 65, placed in a slot in shaft 10.Key 65 is disposed axially between shoulder s on shaft 10, and the rearface of the rear bearing assembly 12.

Ring 62 is held from moving axially of shaft 10 by the split ring 68which is secured to the laterally extending flange portion 63 of ring 62by screw 70 and extends into, and travels in, a groove 72 in theperiphery of a stationary ring 74 surrounding the rear extremity ofshaft "'10 and secured by screws 76 to support member 78. Be-

tween knurled adjusting ring 62 and stationary ring 74 is the frictionspring member 75 which serves to maintain friction between members 62and 74 to prevent inadvertent relative movement between them.

Around bearing assembly 66 the ring 80 is provided, having in its frontface the bores 82 in which the rear ends of said control rods 60 arereceived. The rear ends of said rods are held in position within saidbores 82 by the locking screws 84 respectively which extend from theperiphery of ring 80 into said bores. As the knurled ring 62 is turnedthe adjusting screw 64, bearing assembly 66, and the ring member 80, aremoved back and forth axially of said shaft as desired causing the frontends of said control rods 60, which are in continuous contact with saidbrake pad spring retaining members 57 to position said members toincrease or decrease the braking force of the friction pads 52 on saidfriction disk 50 thereby adjusting the drag between sleeve 26 and flyer20 to control the tension on the strand being unwound from the cop andserved on the core which is travelling successively through said hollowshafts 10 and 22.

In its travel through said shafts 10 and 22 the travelling core isguided and maintained out of contact with the rotating shaft member 22by an inwardly extending flange 92 at the front end of stationary shaft10 and by the ring 94 positioned within shaft 22 at its front end andheld in place by screw 96 extending through the shaft and the nose piece98, provided at the front end of said rotating hollow shaft 22.Projecting forwardly from nose piece 98 and integral with it is the ear100. Pivotally mounted on ear 100 by pivot screw 102 is the bracket 104from which extends guide pin 106. The guide pin 106 is an angularly bentmember the lower free portion 106a of which is substantially parallel tothe core travelling through said sleeves 10 and 22 but may be swungaround its pivot toward or away from said core to control the angle atwhich a strand passing over it is served to and around the travellingcore.

As the strand 2. is unwrapped from the cop it first passes around aguide pin 110 supported on the inner surface of the flyer between thetwo spaced brackets 112 and 114 held to the inner surface of the flyerby the screws 116 extending through the wall of the flyer. After passingaround pin 110 the strand is advanced to and around the guide post 118,projecting radially inward from the inner surface of the flyer, to andaround the bent over extremity 120a of the inwardly extending guide 120.From the guide member 120 the strand passes to and around the bent overouter portion 106a of guide pin 106, the angular position of whichdetermines the angle at which the strand is served upon the travellingcore 0.

It will be noted that the guide pin 110 extends substantially at rightangles to the guide post 118, which in turn is substantially at rightangles to the bent over end portion 120a of guide 120, and the bent overend portion 120a is substantially at right angles to the bent over endportion 106a of guide pin 106. Thus the strand, in travelling from thecop to the core, passes over four guide members and in each instance itspath of travel to and from each guide member is substantially at rightangles to the guide member, and its path of travel to a guide member issubstantially at right angles to its path of travel from the guidemember to the next guide member. This disposition of the guide meansresults in a relatively uniform tension throughout the cross section ofthe strand as it is payed ofi? from the cop and served onto thetravelling core.

The device described herein has the advantages that it makes possiblehigh speed of strand application without vibration which causes breakageand excess wear; longer wear due to improved bearing means, and moreuniform application of the strand to the travelling core with less skipsdue to the freedom of the device from vibration. It has the furtheradvantages that it requires less space than the priorart flyers; copsmay be installed and removed with greater ease; and the cop carryingtubes can be supplied at less cost since their diameter measurementbecomes less critical. The suspension of the device from the rear endtogether with the provision of a two-part shaft including a rotatablefront shaft the rear portion of which is stepped makes possible the useof prelubricated sealed bearing units eliminating the problem ofcleaning and lubricating as well as giving the flyer longer life; and,due to the construction of the hollow shaft in two parts interconnectedthrough the mounting flange 18, removal of the rear bearings, ifrequired, can be accomplished in a simple manner by detaching the frontshaft and flyer from the drive sleeve which is rotatable around rearshaft 10.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purposeof illustration only and that this invention includes all modificationsand equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for serving a strand onto and around a travelling corewhich comprises, a first fixed hollow shaft, a second hollow shaftseparate from said first shaft and disposed in front of said first shaftand in axial alignment with said first shaft, a flyer fixed to saidsecond shaft and having a cup-shaped portion extending around, and inspaced relation to, said second shaft, rotatable means supported on saidfirst shaft, means interconnecting said second shaft and flyer with saidrotatable means for rotation with said rotatable means, a sleevesurrounding said second shaft, and means spacing the sleeve radiallyfrom said flyer and mounting said sleeve for rotation around said secondshaft.

2. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which said rotatable meanscomprises a radial flange, and the connection means of said second shaftand flyer comprises a flange portion extending rearwardly toward saidradial flange, and means are provided for interconnecting said radialflange and said flange portion.

3. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which said sleeve comprises afront cop receiving portion and a rear portion, the rear portions ofsaid flyer and said sleeve respectively comprising portions of differentdiameter, the said portions of the sleeve and flyer being opposed with aportion of one opposed by a portion of the other which is oppositelymodified in diameter, and sealed self lubricating ball bearing assemblymeans is provided between the said rear portions of said flyer andsleeve.

4. The apparatus claimed in claim 3 in which a rear portion of saidsecond hollow shaft is spaced radially from a rear portion of the flyerby a distance greater than the radial distance between a forward portionof said second shaft and the inner surface of a portion of said sleevesurrounding the said forward portion of said second shaft.

5. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which rear portions of saidcup-shaped flyer and said sleeve respectively have a plurality of pairsof opposed portions of different diameter forming shoulders, and sealedself lubricating ball bearing assembly means is provided between thesaid opposed portions of said flyer and sleeve, said shoulders coactingwith said ball bearing assembly means respectively to prevent relativemovement between said sleeve and said second shaft axially of saidshaft.

6. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which said sleeve is mounted onball bearing assembly means interposed between it and the inner surfaceof said flyer, and shoulder means is provided on said sleeve positionedto coact with said ball bearing assembly means to prevent relativemovement axially of second shaft between said sleeve and the combinationcomprising said second shaft and flyer axially of said second shaft.

7. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which the rotatable mountingmeans for said sleeve comprises ball bearing assembly means and in whichsaid second shaft has a radially extending flange positioned to coactwith said ball bearing assembly means to prevent axial relative movementbetween said sleeve and the combination comprising said second shaft andflyer.

8. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which said cupshaped flyer isconnected to said second shaft by a radially extending web projectingfrom said second shaft adjacent its rear end, and said sleeve isdisposedconcentrically around said second hollow shaft but spacedradially from said shaft and is supported on hearing means positionedbetween said flyer and the rear end portion of said sleeve.

9. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which said cupshaped flyer isconnected to said second shaft by a radially extending web projectingfrom said second shaft adjacent its rear end, and said sleeve isdisposed concentrically around said second hollow shaft but spacedradially from said shaft and is supported. on bearing means positionedbetween said flyer and the rear end portion of said sleeve, the rear endportion of said sleeve comprising portions of different diameterproviding radial shoulder means which coact with said bearing means forpreventing movement of said sleeve axially of said second shaft.

10. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which said cupshaped flyer isconnected to said second shaft by a radially extending web projectingfrom said second shaft adjacent its rear end, and said sleeve isdisposed concentrically around said second hollow shaft but spacedradially from said shaft and is supported on bearing means positionedbetween said flyer and the rear end portion of said sleeve, the rear endportion of said flyer comprising portions of different diameterproviding radial shoulder means which coact with said bearing means forpreventing movement of said sleeve axially of said second shaft.

11. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which said flyer comprises aforward portion and a rear portion, the rear portion being of lessdiameter than the forward portion and itself comprising portions ofdifferent inside diameter, the rear end portion of said sleevesurrounded by said rear portion of said flyer comprising portions ofdifferent diameter radially aligned respectively with the said portionsof the rear portion of said flyer to provide a plurality of annularseats between said flyer and sleeve, disposed at different distancesradially from said second shaft, to respectively receive ball bearingassemblies and provide shoulder means in abutting relation to said ballbearing assemblies respectively to prevent movement of said sleeveaxially of said second shaft.

12. Apparatus for winding a strand on a moving core comprising a firsthollow shaft, a composite flyer and a second hollow shaft, said secondhollow shaft being axially aligned with, but separate from said firstshaft, rotatable means mounted for rotation around said first shaft,means interconnecting said rotatable means with said composite flyer andsecond shaft, a sleeve mounted for rotation around said second shaft andhaving a forward portion for receiving a cop of strand material to beserved onto a core travelling through said shafts successively, and arear portion, and bearing means disposed between said flyer and the saidrear portion of said sleeve for supporting said sleeve.

13. Apparatus for winding a strand on a moving core comprising a firsthollow shaft, a composite fiyer and second hollow shaft, said secondhollow shaft being axially aligned with, but separate from said firstshaft, rotatable means mounted for rotation around said first shaft,means interconnecting said rotatable means with said composite flyer andsecond shaft, a sleeve mounted for rotation around said second shaft andhaving a portion for receiving a cop of strand material to be servedonto a core travelling through said shafts successively, brake means 8for said sleeve, and means for manually adjusting said brake meanswithout stopping the winding operation to control the braking forceapplied to said sleeve.

14. Apparatus for winding a strand on a moving core comprising a firsthollow shaft, a composite flyer and second hollow shaft, said secondhollow shaft being axially aligned with, but separate from said firstshaft, rotatable means mounted for rotation around said first shaft,means interconnecting said rotatable means with said composite flyer andsecond shaft, a sleeve mounted for rotation around said second shaft andhaving a portionfor receiving a cop of strand material to be served ontoa core travelling through said shafts successively, and brake means forsaid sleeve comprising friction pads supported from the flyer by springmembers and movable toward or away from friction means supported on saidsleeve, in which means are provided, operable at alltimes including whensaid flyer is rotating to control the position of said spring members tothereby adjust the braking force between said pads and said frictionmeans supported on the sleeve.

15. The apparatus claimed in claim 14 in which bores are providedextending through said composite flyer and second shaft and through themeans for rotatingsaid composite flyer and second shaft, and brakecontrol rod means is inserted in said bores respectively into contactwith the spring members supporting said pads respectively, and meansare, provided remote from said brake means for moving said control rodmeans to adjust the position of the said spring members toward or awayfrom the friction means carried by said sleeve.

16. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which a number of guide meansare mounted on said composite flyer and second shaft for guiding astrand in its travel between said cop and said moving core around whichit is served, the guiding surface of each of said guide means beingdisposed at right angles to the guide surface of the. preceeding andfollowing guide means and controlling the. strand so that upon leavingeach guide surface it travels substantially at right angles to its lineof travel to the guide surface.

1 7. The apparatus claimed in claim 12 including a nose piece comprisinga ring fixed to the outer end of said second shaft and having .an earprojecting forwardly axially of the shaft and a strand guide swingablysupported from said ear to adjust the angular position of said guidesurface relative tov the core to control the angle at which a strandpassing over said guide surface is served onto the travelling core.

18. The apparatus claimed in claim 1 in which said spacing and mountingmeans comprise ball bearings disposed between the rear end of saidsleeve and the flyer.

19. The apparatus claimed in claim 14 in which the means for adjustingthe said braking force comprisescontrol rod means, slideably mounted forrotation with said flyer and said second shaft and movable by remotecontrol means to adjust the frictional contact between said pads andsaid friction means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSSwitzerland Dec. 1, 1928

